Bird City Information

On December 12, 2012, the Village of Menomonee Falls was awarded the recognition as a Bird City Wisconsin for 2013. The application was written as one of the action steps in a Besadny Grant granted to the Village of Menomonee Falls in 2012 from the Natural Resources Foundation.

Landowners can increase bird use of their turf by reducing its extent, mowing it less often, and skipping the fertilizers and pesticides. Providing shrubs and trees, especially native species, increases food resources. Thickets, brush piles, rocks, standing dead trees and logs contribute cover from predators and safe nest and roost sites.

2. Keep your cat indoors.

Our favorite felines are called “house cats” for a reason. Free-ranging cats kill one in 10 wild birds. Plus, living inside extends the average cat’s life by a decade.

3. Make windows visible to birds.

Collision is the second most deadly and preventable threat for urban birds. Obscuring just 5 percent of a large window with artistic etching, frosting or simple striping can help. Or use decals that reflect ultraviolet light, visible to birds but not humans.

4. Do not light the night sky.

Use light only when necessary and from as dim a source as possible. Bright bluish light is the most disruptive, soft yellow the least. Face outside lighting downward, not skyward, and especially avoid illumination that shines horizontally.

5. Provide food, water and nest sites. Most birds that use feeders prefer black oil sunflower and white proso millet seed. In urban settings, birds also benefit from the provision of nest boxes. But preserving dead trees or limbs is the best way to ensure a steady supply of cavities for the species that require them.

6. Do not kill native predators.

Subirdia needs the natural checks and balances that predators such as hawks and owls provide. Exercise restraint when applying pesticides. The toxins we use to control insects and rodents are deadly to small birds and mammals.

7. Foster a diversity of habitats.

Promote natural variability within and around backyard landscapes. Many native plants could be retained if we carved lots carefully from existing vegetation, rather than scraping entire lots bare and replanting them with a standard mix of nursery stock.

8. Make roads safer for wildlife. Creating crossings for reptiles, amphibians and mammals increases biological diversity, which is good for subirdia. Enable natural grasses and shrubs to fill in along road verges and medians, and limit roadside mowing of these sites during nesting season.

9. Ask local planning authorities to ensure functional connections between land and water. These might include buffers along waterways, vegetated corridors, golf courses or a series of small parks strung together along an abandoned transportation route.

10. Enjoy and bond with nature where you live, work and play! When humans live in the city and nature lives only in distant reserves, we can suffer what has been called “environmental amnesia.” To remember what biodiversity is and why it is important, we must also conserve nature in urban settings.

10 Simple Ways People Can Protect Birds

As warmer temperatures and lengthening days bring returning migrant birds, the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) gets asked how people can help birds. Toward that end, ABC has identified the Top 10 things people can do to aid or protect declining birds in their homes and yards.

Keep your cat indoors—this is best for your cat as well as the birds, as indoor cats live an average of three to seven times longer. Even well fed cats kill birds, and bells on cats don’t effectively warn birds of cat strikes. For more information, go to www.abcbirds.org/cats.

Eliminate pesticides from your yard—even those pesticides that are not directly toxic to birds can pollute waterways and reduce insects that birds rely on for food.

Create backyard habitat—if you have a larger yard, create a diverse landscape by planting native grasses, flowers, and shrubs that attract native birds. You will be rewarded by their beauty and song, and will have fewer insect pests as a result.

Donate old birdwatching equipment such as binoculars or spotting scopes to local birdwatching groups—they can get them to schools or biologists in other countries who may not have the resources they need.

Buy organic food and drink shade-grown coffee—increasing the market for produce grown without the use of pesticides, which can be toxic to birds and other animals, will reduce the use of these hazardous chemicals in the U.S. and overseas. Shade coffee plantations maintain large trees that provide essential habitat for wintering songbirds.

Join a bird conservation group such as ABC—learn more about birds and support important conservation work.

“Protecting and helping birds is not only the right thing to do, it is also good for the economy and the future of our environment. Birds are invaluable as controllers of insect pests and as pollinators of crops, and also generate tremendous economic revenues through the pastimes of bird feeding and birdwatching,” said George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy.